Schools!

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Paddle Night on the Anacostia, Labor Film Fest and a Laborpalooza Music Fest, House Concert for Pyramid featuring Lauren Calve, barrein Magruder Park only to be followed by free community yoga the next day! SO much to get excited about this weekend! 👊

For the second installment of this soon-to-be-beloved-but-not-yet-fully-discovered series, I present you with a picture of this beautifully painted elephant statue which stands in front of the town hall of which lovely town in Prince George's County?

Make your guess in the comments, below! Likewise, if you know any details or more information about this elephant, please share your insight! Or play along over on Facebook or Instagram! 👏

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

And the Chicago Cubs did finally beat every team in the league! ⚾ Our world is full circle now, people. 😉 No clue what I'm talking about? Well, the City of Mount Rainier is having some goats visit this week so that they may do their goat-y thang and feast on overgrown vegetation at Rogers Park in Mt. Rainier (4011 Eastern Ave, between Bunker Hill and Shepherd St). Annnddd The Mountain Goats are an Indie Folk band who presciently sang of a time when the Chicago Cubs would "beat every team in the league!" See? Full circle. So much knowledge packed into one paragraph! You're welcome. 🤣

Friday, May 18, 2018

Are you getting caught up in the royal wedding frenzy? I thought I wasn't, but as the time approaches I find myself getting excited to watch it all! Thinking about the royals also reminded me of a story local armchair historian and friend, Shonin Anacker, shared about a visit the Queen made to the Queens Chapel Giant Food Store in West Hyattsville and a Terp's game at MarylandStadium in College Park back in the day. Say what?

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Get your STEM on while exploring the life cycle of butterflies, bounce around in a moonbounce at Summer Jam, shake your groove thang at a bibliobop dance party, have fun at Mt. Rainier Day, the Waterfront Art Festival and more - all this weekend!

*Given the rainy weather we've been having, please be sure to call or check the event website before heading out!

(And please forgive me; I got too caught up in deliberating the proper grammar for this phrase so I capitulated and just ran with the simple hashtag....If your a grammar fiend, drop some knowledge on me. (Also: See what I did there?! 😉))

Any guesses on where you can find this bright and beautiful mural? Hint: It's in Prince George's County. 😆 Drop your knowledge in the comments below!

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

While no official announcement has been made as of yet, our spidey senses have detected the precise locations for the Hyattsville and Riverdale Park (two of the three) new Capital Bikeshare stations coming to Route One (just in time for Friday's Bike to Work Day)! (6 total in Prince George's County.)

As you can see above, the Riverdale Park location will just inside the Route 1entrance to Riverdale Park Station, which makes sense given its proximity to the bike trails, methinks. Looks like there are about 17 slots for bikes. Though that's an odd number and math was never my forte, so let's run with "more than ten." 😁

And from what local resident Rebecca Baldwin shared on Twitter, the Hyattsville Capital Bikeshare Station is located on the corner of Jefferson and Route 1.

As you can see, neither are open for business yet - and won't be, until May 18th. According to a Washington Post article, "[T]he stations will be in the Anacostia Trails Heritage area, which includes Mount Rainier, Hyattsville, and parts of Riverdale Park and in riding proximity to existing Bikeshare stations available in the District and Montgomery."

The other two three locations Capital Bikeshare locations in Prince George's County will be at the Largo Metro station, and another at the Wayne K. Curry Administration Building in Largo and at Largo Road & Campus Way (Prince George's Community College).

So, all we have to do now is find out where the Mt. Rainier Capital Bikeshare Station will be location and our sleuthing will be done - for today! :)

5/16 Update: Thanks to Route One Fun reader, Tom Liddle, for sharing the location of the Mt. Rainier Capital Bikeshare Station on Perry & 35th Street!

Here's the complete list from the Capital Bikeshare site:

Where Can You Find the Stations?

Stations are located in Largo and Hyattsville with an expansion planned along the Route 1 corridor and National Harbor. Current locations:

Monday, May 14, 2018

Word on the internets is that the old S & J's in Riverdale Park will be reincarnated as a tapas restaurant!👏

As y'all know, since S & J's closed in 2016, the spot has been vacant. Given that Douglas Development has been marketing the space as "ideal for a restaurant," it's safe to say that we'll soon have another restaurant in that spot. And it's sounding like it will be a tapas-style one! Anyone else hearing this or otherwise? Share your 411 in the comments, below!

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

This weekend - with Pizzeria Paradiso's Spring (Beer) Fest, Gateway Arts District's Open Studios Tour, cycling through our area's aviation history, alight dance theatre's Faerie, Festival of Literary Arts & more - is a prime example of how awesome it is to live along Route One in Prince George's County! Pat yourself on the back!

As finishing touches are being put on the new playground in University Park (grand opening 5/19), I caught local sculptor Don Becker working his magical, chainsawing ways to repurpose an old tree stump into a new park bench!

Purdy cool. Love the animal theme! More about Don's other tree stump sculptures in UP here, hereand here.

Speaking of the new playground, Andrea Marcavitch, Assistant Town Clerk for UP, shared that the Town will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 19th, which will be kicked off at 9:45am with a performance by Blue Sky Puppets! (If you haven't caught a performance by this group, it's well worth your time. Kids love the shows and parents (in my experience) dig how they peppers the performance with humor that parents appreciate.)

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Wells Run, a small tributary of the Northeast Branch of the Anacostia River that runs through University Park (UP), can get quite dirty from time to time. Candy wrappers here. Plastic bags there. Hub cap there, too (srsly). When it gets to this point, I usually start mumbling something about how somebody should really do something about all this garbage. Somebody should coordinate a clean-Stream Clean-Up. Pointing fingers everywhere except inward. Thankfully, there are folks like UP's Jodi Cohen and Scott Bolden who think and act otherwise.

Last month, Jodi & Scott invited groups, residents and friends to bring ready hands to beautify our park and the stream. Maybe it was the promise of free coffee and doughnuts or maybe it was just an interest making the stream look lovely again - either way, over the course of approximately two hours, about 60 volunteers came out to remove 34 trash bags worth of garbage. 👏

According to Jodi, "this year's 'treasures' included a giant parking space stopper, a fishing rod, 2 1/2 pairs of socks, a Luxury apartment sign, and far too much packaging from 7-11." I'll also add the hub cab below to the list of treasures!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Rejoice! Free Comic Book Day is happening this Saturday (5/5) at Big Planet Comics of College Park! As Big Planet's own Daniel noted, part of the day's effort is to show that there are more to comic books than just capes and tights. Which intrigued me. Because I could live in a world of just capes and tights! 😄

Grand Opening Festivities for Grand Opening of Riverdale Park Station Playground this wknd!

No matter what the weather may be this weekend, Route One Fun's got you (and your offspring) covered with great ideas for free (or practically free) family-friendly fun around town! Share the Guide with your friends, neighbors and even fremenies! 😄

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

It feels like the summer, ppl! Which is a-ok, as so many of this weekend's events are outdoors and involve some brewskys. 😋 Lake Fest, Food Truck Frenzy, Puppies & Barre, Paint Branch Creek Album Release, UP's Porchfest & more! Get to plannin', Route One! 👊

The 2018 Spring Greening Fair & Expo in Mt. Rainier was a great chance to learn about ways to live more sustainability and maybe even save some money by living green. And there were llamas to feed! :)

Recognize this face? You will soon, as Urban Farmer Doug Adams sets up shop in Mt. Rainier!

University Park's Wells Run was home to a number of singing bullfrogs this month (who caught the attention and delight of many UPES students!) as well as a new tree stump sculpture, carved via chainsaw by local sculptor Don Becker!

University Park also got busy with it's annual Azalea Classic, raising funds for resources for University Park Elementary School students! Even Pamela Boozer Strother and her kiddo stopped by! :)

Hyattsville's Mall at Prince Georges threw a Super Hero Party last weekend, full of superhero-themed arts and crafts!

Look at those three, pink caped crusaders! :)

Hope you enjoyed this pictures-post! Hungry for more? Check out Route One Fun's Facebook and Instagram pages to satiate that appetite! :)